1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spinning reel, and more particularly to a spinning reel including a reel body, a rotor rotatably supported to the reel body, a bail arm extending between a pair of arm portions of the rotor and pivotably switchable between an open position and a line-takeup position, a toggle mechanism disposed inside the arm portions for retaining the bail arm either at the open position or the line-takeup position, and a return mechanism for returning the bail arm placed at the open position to the line-takeup position.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional spinning reel of the above-described type is known from e.g. a Japanese laid-open utility model gazette No. 62-80570. In this convention, the toggle mechanism includes a projecting member urged in a projecting direction by means of a compression spring, relative to a pivot member pivotable about an axis extending in parallel with a pivot axis of the bail arm. Further, the return mechanism includes a contact member which comes into contact with the pivot member during rotation of the rotor in the line-takeup direction and pivots the bail arm toward its line-takeup position.
Assume now that the spinning reel such as the above-described convention having the means for automatically switching the bail arm to its line-takeup position in association with rotor rotation is used for a bait casting. That is, in casting a fishing gear, if for instance the handle now has its longitudinal axis aligned normal to the direction in which a fishing rod is swung, a pivotal force may act on the handle which force will urge the handle towards its line-takeup direction. Then, if this pivotal force is strong, this pivotal force from the handle may pivot the rotor to the line-takeup direction thus erroneously switching the bail arm to its line-takeup position. In this respect, the convention has room for improvement.
Incidentally, if the bail arm is switched over to the line-takeup position in the course of casting of the fishing gear, it becomes impossible to feed the fishing line from the spool, whereby the fishing line may be broken.
In view of the above problem, it is conceivable to use e.g. a strong spring in the toggle mechanism so as to prevent the bail arm from being switched over to its line-takeup position by the pivotal force from the handle. However, the bail arm is frequently used during fishing activity; and therefore, such a large operation load will make the operations uncomfortable. In addition, this will also increase operational resistance when an angler switches the bail arm to its line-takeup position by rotating the handle, the operation will become troublesome for an angler to do other type of fishing than the bait casting. Thus, in this respect too, the convention has room for improvement.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved spinning reel which is effective in preventing erroneous switching of the bail arm during a rod swinging action and which also allows easy and comfortable handle operation regardless of the type of fishing.